


Unexpected Item

by Ariane_DeVere



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gods help us all, Humor, Kissing in Public, M/M, Sherlock Being Sherlock, Shopping with Sherlock, or rather gods help John, what could possibly go wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 12:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4666326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariane_DeVere/pseuds/Ariane_DeVere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John is a bit flustered when he and Sherlock are first observed kissing in public. But that’s okay, because Sherlock is ready to explain everything to whoever needs telling. Oh, wait, is that <i>really</i> a good idea ...?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpected Item

**Author's Note:**

> First published on Livejournal in October 2011.

It’s still unusual for Sherlock to show any affection in public and so John is always surprised – and delighted – on the rare occasion when his new partner / boyfriend / lover / significant other (he hasn’t really settled on an appropriate title yet) initiates physical contact while they’re outdoors. So it’s particularly glorious when he finds himself pulled into an alleyway, pressed up against the wall and soundly snogged by a detective who is still high on the excitement of having solved another crime.

It’s just typical bad timing that John surfaces from the kiss, breathless and a little aroused, only to see a young girl – about six or seven years old – standing at the end of the alleyway and looking at them curiously ... and even worse timing that the girl’s mother chooses that moment to catch up to her daughter and follow her gaze down the alley.

Sherlock turns his head to see what John’s looking at and breathes out an almost silent, “Oh.” He opens his mouth as if he’s about to say something to the mother and child but John – suddenly overcome with giggles – grabs his hand and tugs him into motion. Catching John’s giddiness, Sherlock follows his lead as they run off down the alleyway laughing.

But the fates haven’t quite finished with Operation Make John Watson’s Life Bloody Awkward Today, so it’s _only ten minutes later_ that – for the first time ever – Sherlock follows him into the supermarket instead of swirling off home and leaving him to do the shopping alone. And it’s _just a few minutes after that_ that, while John stands at the deli counter deciding which cheese to buy, Sherlock takes his hand and holds it while dropping a kiss onto his cheek. And it’s _just then_ that Sherlock breathes out that “Oh,” again so that John turns and sees that the same little girl is standing nearby and staring at them wide-eyed and innocent while her mother glares at them accusingly. Before she can pull her daughter away, the girl looks up at her and asks, “I don’t understand – why are they kissing?”

But then John’s heart melts into a puddle of pure adoration when Sherlock turns towards the girl and drops to his knees, sinking back on his heels so that he isn’t an intimidating height over her. He smiles up at her mother so sweetly, silently reassuring her that he is no threat, that her frown begins to fade. It’s the most beautiful sight that John has ever seen and he’s not sure he will ever be able to breathe properly again.

And it’s all stunningly gorgeous until Sherlock looks back down to the little girl, smiles fondly at her ... and then opens that bloody mouth of his.

“Well, when an army doctor and a consulting detective love each other very much ...”

It’s a nuisance having to walk the extra six minutes to the nearest Tesco every time there’s no milk in the flat. Hopefully in due course Waitrose will lift the ban.

* * *

 _To my humble and never-ending amazement, this story has been illustrated by the wonderfully talented Khorazir[here](http://khorazir.tumblr.com/post/13874053742/inspired-by-ariane-deveres-hilarious-fic)_.

* * *

Author’s Note

Sitting in the bar at London’s National Theatre with Mirith Griffin, Anarion and Atlin Merrick in October 2011 and talking about all things related to _Sherlock_ fandom and fanfic-writing in particular, we were discussing which members of our respective families knew what we do, and how much they knew about what we do.

I mentioned that while I’d been talking to my 78-year-old mum about the new friends I had made through the fandom, she had winkled out of me that I too was writing _Sherlock_ fic, and she asked to see it. Somewhat reluctantly I printed off a careful selection of my stories, including _[The Click of the K](http://archiveofourown.org/works/461155)_ , a 221B fic which ends with John kissing Sherlock for the first time. When I next went to see her I left the stories with her after somewhat awkwardly explaining that, in the part of the fandom that I followed, we liked the two main characters to be romantically involved. This information clearly didn’t sink in at all and when I next saw her and asked what she had thought of my stories, she frowned and said, “Well, I didn’t understand one thing: why were they kissing?”

At this point in my recitation, Mirith turned around to me in the National bar, put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder, gazed seriously into my eyes and said, “Well, when an army doctor and a consulting detective love each other very much ...”

The shrieking and hysterical laughter which followed almost got us thrown out of the bar. Up until the time that Mum died in 2012 I never dared tell her that she would always be known to my friends and readers as the “why were they kissing” lady – I’m not sure she would have understood how much joy that incident at the National brought us, nor how it inspired an instant challenge for all four of us to incorporate Mirith’s phrase into our next fics. It may be a strange way to be immortalised, but Mum, you’ll be famous forever!

*****************

And here are the other versions:

Mirith’s: [Heat Wave](http://archiveofourown.org/works/276647) (NC-17/Explicit like _woah_ )

Anarion’s: [Unexpected Sight](http://anarion.livejournal.com/14612.html)

and Atlin’s: [The First Time...John Gave Sherlock a Blow Job in Public](http://atlinmerrick.livejournal.com/32554.html) (What d’you reckon – NC-17/Explicit a bit?!)


End file.
